Ann Cleeves Books in Order
The complete reading guide — Vera Stanhope, Shetland & Two Rivers series
Ann Cleeves is one of Britain's most celebrated crime writers, creator of three beloved detective series and the novels behind the hit TV shows Vera and Shetland. Her atmospheric stories are rooted in place — the windswept Northumberland moors, the remote Shetland Islands, and the river estuaries of North Devon. Here's every Ann Cleeves novel in reading order across all three series.
Vera Stanhope Series
11 novels · 1999–2024 · Set in Northumberland · ITV's Vera starring Brenda Blethyn
1. The Crow Trap
Three women come together at an isolated cottage on the North Pennines to complete an environmental survey. Three women who each know the meaning of betrayal. When one of them discovers a body, the unconventional Detective Inspector Vera Stanhope enters the picture — and nothing is as it seems.
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2. Telling Tales
Ten years after Jeanie Long was charged with the murder of fifteen-year-old Abigail Mantel, disturbing new evidence proves her innocence. The killer is still at large. Vera makes fresh inquiries in the East Yorkshire village, and the villagers are hauled back to a time they'd rather forget.
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3. Hidden Depths
A hot summer on the Northumberland coast. Julie Armstrong arrives home to find her son strangled, laid out in a bath of water and covered with wildflowers. When a second body is found in a rock pool, strewn with flowers, Vera must find a killer who is making art out of death.
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4. Silent Voices
When Vera finds a woman's body in the steam room of her local gym, she hopes for once it might be natural causes. But bruises on the victim's neck say otherwise, and the investigation uncovers a shocking secret that reveals surprising darkness in the community.
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5. The Glass Room
Vera's not one to make friends easily, but her neighbours keep her supplied in homebrew and conversation. When one goes missing, Vera tracks her to a writers' retreat. A body is discovered and her neighbour is found holding the knife — but Vera refuses to accept the obvious.
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DI Sarah Lynch — Phillip Strang
If you love Cleeves's remote, atmospheric settings, DI Sarah Lynch is the natural next read. Lynch investigates in the Scottish Highlands — isolated communities, ancient grudges, and cases where the landscape itself feels like a character. 13 books.
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6. Harbour Street
On a packed Newcastle Metro, a woman is fatally stabbed — yet no one sees the murder. Vera heads to the quiet Northumberland town of Mardle to investigate, convinced the locals know more than they're letting on.
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7. The Moth Catcher
A young house-sitter is found dead by the lane into a secluded valley. When Vera and her team search the big house's attic, they find a second body. Two deaths in one house — and a community full of people with reasons to keep secrets buried.
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8. The Seagull
A visit to prison brings Vera face to face with an old enemy: former detective superintendent John Brace, now an inmate. He offers information about the disappearance of two men — but only if Vera will look into a matter close to his own dark heart.
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9. The Darkest Evening
Driving through a blizzard, Vera finds an abandoned car with a baby inside. She takes the child to Brockburn — the Stanhope family estate — where a society party is in full swing. The baby's mother is found dead outside. For once, Vera cannot be impartial.
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10. The Rising Tide
Fifty years ago, a group of teenagers spent a weekend on Holy Island that changed their lives. Now they return for a reunion — and one of them is found hanged. Vera investigates, but the tide is rising and the island will soon be cut off from the mainland.
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11. The Dark Wives
A staff member at a care home for troubled teens is found dead. The only clue is the disappearance of fourteen-year-old Chloe Spence. Vera can't believe a teenager is responsible — but when a second body is found near the Dark Wives landmark, superstition and folklore collide with fact.
Buy on Amazon →Shetland Series (Jimmy Perez)
8 novels · 2006–2018 · Set on the Shetland Islands · BBC's Shetland starring Douglas Henshall
1. Raven Black
A cold January morning on Shetland, deep snow on the ground. The strangled body of a teenage girl is found near the home of loner Magnus Tait. The community points the finger, but Detective Inspector Jimmy Perez isn't convinced by the obvious suspect. Winner of crime fiction's most prestigious award.
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2. White Nights
Midsummer on Shetland — the sun barely sets. At a gallery opening, a stranger bursts into tears, claiming he doesn't know who he is or where he came from. The next day, he's found dead. Jimmy Perez investigates a mystery set against the eerie endless daylight of the Shetland summer.
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3. Red Bones
An archaeological dig on Whalsay uncovers human remains — but are they ancient or modern? Then an elderly woman is shot dead in what appears to be a tragic accident. Jimmy Perez is drawn into an island community fiercely protective of its secrets.
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4. Blue Lightning
Jimmy Perez takes his fiancée Fran to Fair Isle to meet his parents. A storm cuts the island off from the outside world — and then a woman is found dead in the bird observatory. With no way off the island, the killer is among them.
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5. Dead Water
A journalist's body is discovered on Shetland. He'd left the islands years ago, leaving scandal in his wake. Now he'd returned chasing a story that someone wanted to stay buried. DI Willow Reeves is brought in to lead the case, and she needs Jimmy Perez's local knowledge to solve it.
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6. Thin Air
A group of old university friends travel from London to Shetland for a wedding. One of them, Eleanor, disappears — apparently into thin air. It's midsummer, a time of light nights and unexpected mists, and Perez and Reeves must find out what happened before another life is lost.
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7. Cold Earth
Torrential rain triggers a landslide that crosses the main road and sweeps down to the sea. In the wreckage, Jimmy Perez sees the body of a dark-haired woman — but by the time the rescue team arrives, the body has disappeared. Then a woman is found murdered in a nearby house.
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8. Wild Fire
An English family moves to Shetland, hoping to give their autistic son a calmer life. When a young nanny is found dead near their home, rumours of an affair with the husband spread quickly. Jimmy Perez and Willow Reeves investigate — and their own complicated relationship reaches a turning point.
Buy on Amazon →Two Rivers Series (Matthew Venn)
3 novels · 2019–2023 · Set in North Devon · ITV's The Long Call
1. The Long Call
Detective Matthew Venn has returned to North Devon, where he grew up in — and turned his back on — a strict evangelical community. A man with an albatross tattoo is found stabbed on a beach near his home. The investigation leads Venn back into the world he once escaped.
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2. The Heron's Cry
North Devon is enjoying a rare hot summer when Detective Matthew Venn is called to an elaborately staged murder — Dr Nigel Yeo has been fatally stabbed with a shard of glass from one of his daughter's sculptures. Venn must untangle the secrets of a family whose values are not what they seem.
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3. The Raging Storm
A man's body is discovered in a disused chapel in the remote North Devon village of Greystone. Detective Matthew Venn recognises him — a famous adventurer who once sailed single-handed around the world. With a storm raging and the village cut off, Venn must find the killer before they strike again.
Buy on Amazon →If You Enjoy Ann Cleeves, Try These
Love Cleeves's atmospheric, character-driven crime fiction? Here are series that deliver the same sense of place and psychological depth.
DI Sarah Lynch — Phillip Strang
If you love Jimmy Perez's Shetland, try Lynch's Scottish Highlands. Remote villages, ancient grudges, and a detective navigating tight-knit communities where everyone has something to hide. 13 books set in the wild heart of Scotland.
Browse the Series →
DI Tremayne — Phillip Strang
An old-school detective in Salisbury — uncompromising, politically incorrect, and relentless. Like Vera, Tremayne's rough edges hide sharp instincts. 10 books of classic British police procedural.
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Ian Rankin — Inspector Rebus
Edinburgh's finest — cynical, stubborn, and brilliant. If you love Cleeves's dark Scottish atmosphere, Rankin's 25-book Rebus series is essential reading.
Reading Guide →Frequently Asked Questions
How many Ann Cleeves books are there?
Ann Cleeves has written 22 novels across her three main detective series: 11 Vera Stanhope novels, 8 Shetland novels featuring Jimmy Perez, and 3 Two Rivers novels featuring Matthew Venn. She also wrote a new Jimmy Perez spin-off, The Killing Stones, published in 2025.
Should you read Ann Cleeves books in order?
Each series should be read in order — characters develop across the books and later novels contain spoilers for earlier ones. This is especially true for the Shetland series, which has significant personal storylines running through all eight books. However, the three series are independent of each other and can be read in any order.
Which Ann Cleeves series should I start with?
Start with whichever appeals most. If you've watched the Vera TV series, begin with The Crow Trap. If you prefer remote, atmospheric settings, start with Raven Black (Shetland). If you want a shorter, more modern series, try The Long Call (Two Rivers). All three are excellent entry points.
Are the Vera and Shetland TV shows faithful to the books?
The TV adaptations capture the characters and atmosphere well, but plots often differ significantly. Vera ran for 14 seasons on ITV with Brenda Blethyn, while Shetland ran on BBC with Douglas Henshall. Reading the books gives you the full experience of Cleeves's writing — especially the deep sense of place that makes her work distinctive.
What should I read after Ann Cleeves?
Readers who love Cleeves's remote, atmospheric settings typically move on to DI Sarah Lynch by Phillip Strang — a Scottish detective series set in the Highlands with the same sense of isolated community and landscape-driven tension. For something closer to Vera's character — rough-edged, instinctive, uncompromising — DI Tremayne is the natural match.